Chapter 12—Caught

At midnight, Tsunade and Orochimaru returned to the edge of the ravine, Orochimaru much stronger for the rest he had gotten.

"It's over this way," Tsunade said, leading him toward a spot along the ledge where the wires were spread thin. They moved forward, but Deidara was watching from below. The moment they broke through the trees, he set off a bomb in the ledge and the ground exploded into pieces beneath their feet.

Both of them brought chakra to their hands and feet immediately, intending to catch a secure hold on the ravine wall. They were too late to see their mistake. The cliffside was crawling with clay spiders, and just as Tsunade had gotten a hold they exploded, throwing both Tsunade and Orochimaru away from the wall and down into the river below.

Kakuzu stepped out of the cave to join Deidara on the bank. "Have you had your fun now?" he asked as the last of the rocks from the broken ledge crashed into the river and the waves began to calm.

"Oh, it's far from over," Deidara said. "And I've got a few more surprises set up, too. Hm."

[X]

Orochimaru and Tsunade crawled onto the bank a good distance downriver from the cave. They paused there to catch their breath but it wasn't a minute before Orochimaru stood. "Let's go, Tsunade," he said. "We can't allow him to make the next move." But Tsunade did not stand. She stayed on the ground, trembling slightly, and kept her eyes closed. Orochimaru had seen it before.

"Open your eyes, Tsunade," he ordered sharply. "Stand up!"

When she did not move he lost his patience with her. Tsunade felt his hand close around her upper arm and she was dragged to her feet. He let go of her then and she remained standing but still would not open her eyes.

"There's no blood," Orochimaru said impatiently. "The wounds were cauterized. What little blood there was, the river washed away. You're making it worse by not looking."

Tsunade's trembling slowly quieted and she hesitantly opened her eyes, glancing over Orochimaru's wounds and then her own. They'd both been burned by the explosions but their injuries were not serious and there was very little blood. She sighed.

"Honestly, Tsunade," Orochimaru said accusingly. "I thought you had overcome that."

"…Not entirely," she said, her voice still a little shaky. Then she added defensively, "It's not really something I want to put to the test."

"If I had known this was still an issue I might have rethought this whole thing. No wonder you said we needed Jiraiya."

Tsunade's feelings wavered between guilt and annoyance but she did not dwell on it. "After all that… he must know we're here," she said, focusing back on their mission.

"Let's go." Orochimaru turned and started running back upriver, Tsunade following closely.

When they reached the cave entrance they saw that they were too late. Deidara had already made his next move. The mouth of the cave was rimmed with another swarm of spiders and Deidara stood inside wearing a satisfied smirk as Orochimaru and Tsunade stopped, wary of the trap.

"Orochimaru, look," Tsunade said suddenly. "His arms…"

"Interesting…" Orochimaru murmured, staring into the cave.

"Glad you made it back," Deidara called to them. "It would have been no fun at all if that was all it took.

"Let me tell you about those spiders on the entrance there. If anything enters this cave – a person, a summon, a weapon, even just chakra – if anything crosses that threshold, it all explodes, and there's enough there to level the whole area. Hm."

"That's ridiculous," Tsunade scoffed. "This stupid brat. He'll blow himself up, too."

"Of course not," Deidara said smoothly. "I came prepared. So then, what will you do? Hm."

"Well, he can't stay in there forever," Tsunade muttered to Orochimaru.

"And we can't stay out here waiting forever," Orochimaru said.

"Fine." Tsunade held up her fist. "Then I'll just make a new entrance."

Orochimaru caught her shoulder before she could take a step. "Don't be so reckless. You could collapse the whole cave and get us all blown to pieces."

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any plans."

"There must be a weakness to it somewhere."

They continued to deliberate, focused on the problem before them and oblivious to the large bird whose mouth was slowly opening behind them. Two smaller birds shot out of it and flew at Orochimaru's and Tsunade's backs. They heard the wings and turned, but too late. The birds were practically upon them already.

Then, suddenly, everything went black as an earth-shaking bang sounded all around them, echoing off of the ravine and cave walls.